History of Texas A&M University

History of an American university

The history of Texas A&M University, the first public institution of higher education in Texas, began in 1871, when the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas was established as a land grant college by the Reconstruction era Texas Legislature. Classes began on October 4, 1876. Although Texas A&M was originally scheduled to be established under the Texas Constitution as a branch of the yet to be created University of Texas, subsequent acts of the Texas Legislature never gave the university any authority over Texas A&M. In 1875, the Legislature separated the administrations of A&M and the University of Texas, which still existed only on paper. For much of its first century, enrollment at Texas A&M was restricted to men who were willing to participate in the Corps of Cadets and receive military training. During this time, a limited number of women were allowed to attend classes but forbidden from gaining a degree. During World War I, 49% of A&M graduates were in military service, and in 1918, the senior class was mustered into military service to fight in France. During World War II, Texas A&M produced over 20,000 combat troops, contributing more officers than both the United States Military Academy and United States Naval Academy combined. Shortly after World War II, the Texas Legislature redefined Texas A&M as a university and the flagship school of the Texas A&M University System, making official the school's status as a clear and separate institution from the University of Texas. In the 1960s, the state legislature renamed the school Texas A&M University, with the "A&M" becoming purely symbolic. Under the leadership of James Earl Rudder, the school became racially integrated and coeducational. Membership in the Corps of Cadets became voluntary. In the second half of the 20th century, the university was recognized for its research with the designations sea grant university and space grant university. The school was further honored in 1997 with the establishment of the George Bush Presidential Library on the western edge of the campus.

The Texas Legislature defeated a nonbinding resolution in the 1950s to encourage A&M to admit women. The school newspaper, The Battalion began writing editorials to encourage coeducation, causing the Student Senate to demand the editor of the paper resign. Later in the year students defeated 2–1 a campus resolution on coeducation. The wives and daughters of faculty, staff and students as well as female staff members were finally allowed to officially participate in undergraduate programs, although they were not permitted to join the Corps of Cadets. When Rudder died in 1970, after 11 years as president of the school, Texas A&M University had grown to more than 14,000 students from all 50 states and 75 nations.

Texas A&M's would continue its growth spurt after Rudder's death. On September 17, 1971, Texas A&M University was one of the first four institutions to be designated a sea grant college in recognition of oceanographic development and research. A third designation was added on August 31, 1989, when Texas A&M was named a space grant college. The university remains one of few institutions nationwide to hold designations as a land , sea , and space grant college. In 1986, Texas A&M made plans to open a campus in Kōriyama, Japan, and accepted students starting in 1990 with the aim to transfer students to the College Station campus after two years of classes. The campus closed down in 1994 due to insufficient enrollment.

The Corps welcomed its first female members in the fall of 1974. At the time, the women were segregated into a special unit, known as W 1, and suffered harassment from many of their male counterparts. In November 1976, the university denied official recognition to the Gay Student Services Organization on the grounds that homosexuality was illegal in Texas, and the group's stated goals—offering referral services and providing educational information to students—were actually the responsibility of university staff. The students sued the university for violation of their First Amendment right to freedom of speech in February 1977. For six years, Gay Student Services v. Texas A&M University wound its way through the courts; although the trial court ruled in favor of Texas A&M several times, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals repeatedly overturned the verdict. The case set a national precedent by removing legal restrictions on gay rights groups on campuses. The subsequent recognition of the group provided a university precedent for allowing social organizations. In 1977, the university had also denied recognition to Sigma Phi Epsilon, a national social fraternity, because its presence on campus might result in "a social caste system". To coincide with the opening of the George Bush Presidential Library, Texas A&M established the George Bush School of Government and Public Service. The school, which offers a master's degree in Public Service and Administration (MPSA) and one in policy and international affairs (MPIA) as well as two research degrees, officially launched in 1997. It became a separate school within the university in 1999.

At 2:42 a. m. on November 18, 1999, the partially completed Aggie Bonfire, standing 40 feet (12 m) tall and consisting of about 5000 logs, collapsed during construction. Of the 58 students and former students working on the stack, 12 were killed and 27 others were injured. The incident received nationwide attention, with over 50 satellite trucks broadcasting from the Texas A&M campus within hours. On November 25, 1999, the date that Bonfire would have burned, Aggies instead held a vigil and remembrance ceremony on site. Over 40,000 people, including former President George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara and then Texas governor George W. Bush and his wife Laura, lit candles and observed up to two hours of silence at the site of the Bonfire collapse. A commission put together by Texas A&M University discovered that a number of factors led to the Bonfire collapse, including "excessive internal stresses" on the logs and "inadequate containment strength", where the wiring used to tie the logs together was not strong enough. The wiring broke after logs from upper tiers were "wedged" into lower tiers. On May 21, 2004, Federal Judge Samuel B. Kent dismissed all claims against the Texas A&M officials, and, in 2005, 36 of the 64 original defendants, including all of the student leaders, settled their portion of the case for an estimated US$4.25 million, paid by their insurance companies. A federal appeals court dismissed the remaining lawsuits against Texas A&M and its officials in 2007.

With strong support from Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin, the Association of American Universities inducted Texas A&M in May 2001, based on the depth of the university's research and academic programs. Furthermore, in 2004, the honors organization Phi Beta Kappa opened its 265th chapter at Texas A&M. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Texas A&M opened Reed Arena as a temporary shelter to house over 200 evacuees from New Orleans. Although school was barely in session and there was minimal notice, the students and staff of A&M prepared the facility, setting up several hundred beds on the arena floor and making arrangements for the evacuees to get new clothes and have medical checks. Aggie students organized a child care facility, and Aggie athletes escorted teenagers to the Aggie Rec Center to play basketball. Less than three weeks later, Reed Arena was again opened as a temporary shelter for people fleeing Hurricane Rita. On December 18, 2006, former Texas A&M University president Robert M. Gates was sworn in as the 22nd U. S. Secretary of Defense. Gates's successor, Elsa Murano, on January 3, 2008, became both the university's first female and first Hispanic president. As of 2012, the university had an enrollment of more than 50,000, making the school the largest university in Texas. By 2020, this number swelled even further to over 71,000 students enrolled making it the largest public university in the nation.

Texas A&M has several branch campuses. Texas A&M University at Galveston was formed in 1962, in Galveston, Texas. This campus is home to the Texas A&M Maritime Academy and focuses on marine biology, marine sciences and oceanography. In 2003, the university opened an international branch in the West Asian country of Qatar. Texas A&M University at Qatar had the distinction in 2011 of being the first school outside the U. S recognizing engineers as members of Tau Beta Pi, the Engineering Honor Society. The university opened a higher education center in 2018 in McAllen, Texas. In 2013, Texas A&M Health Science Center was formally merged into the university. While the bulk of the health science center is located on main campus the health science center maintains campuses in Dallas, Houston, Round Rock and Temple. Of note is the Texas A&M University College of Dentistry. This campus, formerly the Baylor University School of Dentistry, was added to the health science center in 1996. Also in 2013, the university purchased the Texas Wesleyan University School of Law and renamed it the Texas A&M School of Law. This campus is located in Fort Worth, Texas. In 1962, Texas A&M was granted control of Bryan Air Force Base. This campus, formerly named Texas A&M Riverside Campus, was an extension of the main campus. This campus was transferred away from the Texas A&M proper to the Texas A&M University System in September 2015.

In 1914, Texas A&M became a charter member of the Southwest Conference until its dissolution in 1996. Texas A&M subsequently joined the Big Eight with The University of Texas at Austin, Baylor, and Texas Tech to form the Big 12 Conference. Texas A&M left the Big 12 Conference for the Southeastern Conference on July 1, 2012. This ended Texas A&M's scheduled NCAA athletic competitions with its Texas Southwest Conference rivals. As of the end of the 2012 athletics season, Texas A&M has won 19 national titles in all of its varsity sports. The school has two Heisman Trophy winners: John David Crow in 1957 and the 2012 winner, Johnny Manziel.